The Common Stupid Voter

College Republican meeting today. And I must say, I’m disappointed. I don’t know who I’m more disappointed with, campaigns or the people that respond to campaigns. The idiots that the campaigns are targeted at, I guess. Campaigns simply do what the people respond to best, so I guess I blame the people.

Why? Well, College Republicans today was basically a half hour of a mix of people begging for phone banking, going door to door, sign waving, that sort of thing. Now, as a (hopefully sane) voter, none of these things impact me whatsoever. I vote on what matters – how the candidates will vote on the issues. Vague, but oddly specific. I don’t vote for someone, or even at all, because some college student called my house. If I get a pamphlet, I glance for some specifics on how the candidate stands on some issues. Since they’re trying to appeal to a broader range of people, there’s rarely any issues on the pamphlet. So I throw it out, disappointed in the candidate but more disappointed in the voters for responding to this sort of shit. And sign wavers? Really? “I’m going to vote for Harris this election, I saw some guy waving a sign with his name on it and therefore I have no choice but to give in.”

I get the whole name recognition thing. If your name isn’t out there then you’re not going to win. That’s obvious. I get bumper stickers, yard signs, that sort of thing. But I think at a certain point people need to vote on something besides name recognition. Like the issues. Just because I saw a grand total of 1500 Ehrlich emblems this election season doesn’t mean I have any idea who he is or what he stands for. I’m not voting for Ehrlich because of his stickers. I’m voting for him because I like his politics. How did I find out his politics? The internet. And it was surprisingly difficult. Not hard, but it’s not as accessible as I’d like.

I hate the common stupid person. Take some time and make sure you’re voting for who you want to vote for. If you misuse your vote because you’re uneducated about the candidates you really shouldn’t be voting.